1999 ONTARIO FOREST ACCORD A FOUNDATION FOR PROGRESS

Transcription

1 1999 ONTARIO FOREST ACCORD A FOUNDATION FOR PROGRESS MARCH 1999

2 1999 ONTARIO FOREST ACCORD - A FOUNDATION FOR PROGRESS Commitments by members of the Forest Industry, the Partnership for Public Lands (as represented by the World Wildlife Fund, the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and the Wildlands League) and the Ministry of Natural Resources The following commitments have been identified as elements of a mutually acceptable approach to the establishment of parks and protected areas in the Lands for Life planning area, while also considering the needs of the forest industry. The commitments reflect a consensus among the parties. There are a few commitments that only apply to one or two parties and these are clearly identified. The commitments related to forestry are based on two fundamental premises: Unless otherwise agreed to the satisfaction of the parties, there would be no net increase in the cost of wood delivered to the mill and there would be no long term reduction in the supply of fibre necessary for processing on both a planning area and region basis, as a result of the establishment of new parks and protected areas; and the measures that are outlined, if fully implemented, will contribute to addressing the requirements of the first premise. The provisions of this Accord support the completion of a representative system of parks and protected areas encompassing 12% of the Lands for Life planning area complemented by a mechanism for limited expansion to address significant gaps in representation on a mutually agreed upon basis. All parties acknowledge that the accord is written with the understanding that treaty and aboriginal rights must be respected and honoured. The parties also acknowledge that the land use decisions are without prejudice to land claims recognized by Ontario and Canada.

3 All parties agree to the following commitments: 1. Parks and protected areas resulting from the Lands for Life process will exclude logging, mining and hydroelectric development, with a regulatory context that provides permanence. 2. Endorse general mapping of 12% of the whole planning areas (excluding the Great Lakes) as parks or regulated protected areas where there is no logging, mining or hydro-electric development and to provide interim land-use protection of those sites from commercial logging, mining and hydro-electric development until they are regulated. 3. Support an increase to the existing representative parks and protected area system beyond the current 12%, within the approved framework of policies and standards and through jointly acceptable processes as outlined in other commitments stated in this document. 4. Significant changes in parks and protected area policies, legislation and permitted uses would occur only after prior public consultation and review. 5. Develop an Ontario forest science partnership in order to; develop and test a range of intensive forest management practices assess the impacts of intensive forest management on increased forest growth and yield assess the environmental impacts of intensive forest management direct science activities in support of Ontario s forest management planning requirements under the Timber Class Environmental Assessment and Crown Forest Sustainability Act. 6. Establish an Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board (OFAAB) within the context of the Ministry s Advisory Committee structure to support the collaborative implementation of the 1999 Ontario Forest Accord. The Board would report to the Minister of Natural Resources and consist of appointed representatives of the forest industry, the environmental community and the MNR. The board would have the following mandate: a) Help implement the recommendations and joint commitments made in the Accord, and develop and recommend further mitigation and transition strategies if required. b) Monitor the achievement of ecological representation and parks targets, and develop procedures for achieving industry/environmental group/government resolution of shortfalls. c) Help resolve disputes that arise related to the matters listed above, and other related matters referred to the Board by the Minister. d) Develop methods to update and amend this accord to ensure that it remains current and can be responsive to future needs and emerging issues. The OFAAB will also develop a strategy for additions to the parks and protected areas system through a jointly acceptable process, that shares the benefits of increased productivity and contains some or all of the following elements: a) Representation achievements and candidate site identification. Within one year of signing the Ontario Forest Accord, OFAAB will develop a map of candidate sites to meet the earth and life science representation requirements, as well as transitional management measures for these sites. OFAAB s recommendations will be

4 recognized by the affected companies in the context of their forest management plans. b) Site Discussions OFAAB will initiate discussions of specific sites on a mutually agreed upon basis between the affected company(s) and relevant conservation interests. c) Develop Proposals Proposals for new protected areas would be developed, including: candidate site identification candidate list of intensive forest management areas or other offsets scientific validation socio-economic and environmental impact analysis d) Review and acceptance by MNR e) Public consultation including EBR posting. f) Approval and implementation (within all applicable legislative requirements) 7. Develop a process for sharing permanent increases in wood supply between additional protected areas and increased forest supply. 8. Support the package of mitigation measures required to offset the impacts of the proposed parks and protected areas resulting from the Accord. 9. Support the concept of long term continuity and security of wood fiber supply as well as the need of the forest industry to have certainty for the investments that it makes. 10. Agreement that the long term delivered wood costs and volumes available for industrial use will not be negatively affected by the Accord. 11. Implement measures directed at improving the utilization of Crown timber and increasing the volume/or quality of Crown timber over the long term. The measures will include: semi-commercial thinnings improvement cuts in degraded hardwood forests salvage cuts in low volume or quality stands that are not currently harvested Qualifying sites will be identified and approved in the Annual Work Schedule. 12. MNR s wood measurement system will not apply to volumes less than the minimum top diameter as prescribed in the regulated Scaling Manual of Ontario. 13. Establish incentives in relation to extraordinary expenditures on intensive forest management to grow Crown timber. 14. Participate in the designation of intensive forest management areas (special supply areas) in forest management plans. In the initial phase of intensive forest management areas designation and implementation, these areas will be limited to a mutually acceptable portion of the landscape. 15. MNR will make best efforts, together with the forest industry and the environmental groups to obtain appropriate modifications to the Timber Class E.A. and the Crown Forest Sustainability Act and its regulations, in order to permit intensive forest management practices (pending more precise definition of specific requirements) and the lengthening of the term of forest management plans. 16. The requirements of the Crown Forest Sustainability Act such as diversity will continue to be applied to the extensively managed portions of the SFL s but recognize that special provisions may be required for the intensive forest management areas. 17. MNR will continue to be responsible for forest protection measures and will assign a higher priority to forest protection measures necessary to protect intensive forest management areas. 18. The parties will publicly

5 forest land that is not available for forest harvesting outside of the protected area designation, and that the distribution and values of such areas should be documented. 19. MNR will implement compensation for capital investments for permanent infrastructure and processing assets directly related to regulated land withdrawals as a result of the Lands for Life process and any future unilateral withdrawals. Compensation issues will only be considered after all mitigation and transition strategies have been exhausted. The amount of compensation, if any, determined shall be defined in the sequence as follows: Notification to the affected party of the withdrawal of regulated areas from the SFL Mitigation and transition strategies developed by MNR and the affected companies, resulting in a written report to the party. Notification by the affected party to the Deputy Minister that a capital investment loss remains unmitigated Evaluation and validation of the party (ies) claim by a qualified, independent, mutually agreedupon expert resulting in a detailed report to the Deputy Minister. The Deputy Minister responds as to the actions or compensations deemed reasonable and appropriate in light of the report. Failing agreement to the Deputy Minister s response, the issue will be referred to arbitration for recommendations to the minister, whose decision would be final The Minister will accept reasonable requests for compensation recommended by the arbitrator None of the above infringes upon the rights of the affected party to seek a civil remedy in the courts. 20. Where linear shaped parks and protected areas resulting from this process are planned, provision will be made for the timely implementation of a limited number of crossings to provide access to timber harvest areas that would otherwise be uneconomical to access. Prior to December 31, 1999, crossing locations will be identified as part of the planning for the new parks and protected areas resulting from these discussions. Once the new protected areas are in regulation, decisions on crossing issues will normally be made as part of the management planning for parks and protected areas. In all cases, an evaluation of the area will be carried out by MNR to ensure that the identified values of that area will be protected. MNR will require removal of roads and bridges when no longer needed by the forest industry. 21. MNR will work with the forest industry and the Partnership for Public Lands to reinstate to the land base available for forestry use any deferred park, study and protected areas that are not selected in the current round of discussions, except for areas mutually agreed upon as candidates for future protection. Any future significant withdrawals or changes in land use designation will only occur after public consultation, with provision for involvement of the parties. 22. There will be a recognition of the costs, benefits and impacts associated with intensive forest management activities. 23. The parties will encourage and support international forest certification activities undertaken by the companies. 24. MNR, the forest industry and the partnership for Public Lands will support initiatives directed toward the orderly development of areas north of the area of the undertaking (the area which was considered in the Class Environmental Assessment for Timber Management of Crown Lands) on a best efforts basis and as quickly as possible, subject to the following conditions: Full agreement of affected First Nations communities Permitting commercial forest management on lands north of the area of the undertaking,

6 concurrence of the Minister of the Environment to provide coverage modeled after the coverage of the Timber Class EA terms and conditions and Recognition and regulation of parks and protected areas on these lands. 25. MNR will look favorably upon redistributing wood flows among mills within the licensed fiber commitments made to a company, where such redistribution does not result in an unacceptable socio economic impact to affected communities. 26. MNR will consider species substitution as a mitigation tool when requested by the forest industry, where short term or long term surplus volumes of a tree species can be made available to mills that will experience wood supply losses related to these land use decisions. 27. MNR, the forest industry and the Partnership for Public Lands will support an expeditious independent and transparent review of the guidelines which are applied within the forest management planning process, with a target of completion within six months, with a goal of ensuring the guidelines fulfill their intended purpose in an effective and efficient manner. 28. MNR and SFL holders will review the lands classified as NSR (Not Sufficiently Regenerated) so as to promote forest renewal and improve the accuracy of wood supply forecasts. 29. MNR and the forest industry will support the principle that the increased costs and lost volumes incurred by the forest industry as a result of resource (tourism) stewardship agreements which provide tourism protection in excess of that resulting from the normal application of tourism guidelines, will be the basis for calculating a charge to the beneficiary to offset the forest industry s costs or losses. The partnership for Public Lands agrees that they will not oppose the beneficiary pay concept for resource stewardship agreements. 30. MNR will involve the forest industry in any subsequent related discussions that could significantly affect wood supply and the environmental sector in any discussions that could significantly affect the proposed protected areas 31. MNR will arrange meetings with Ministers of other Ministries to assist the industry in addressing its current issues and concerns.